Four million people are in need of basic relief aid in Somalia. That is the message from UN and humanitarian organisations in the country in an appeal launched in Stockholm. The total cost of the needed relief effort needed assessed to be $1.5 billion.
The Danish Refugee Council is among the 148 humanitarian organisations presenting the so-called CAP (Consolidated Appeal Process) alongside the UN. At an estimated $1.5 billion the cost of providing basic relief aid in Somalia in 2012 represents an increase of fifty percent compared to the year before.
“The situation in Somalia has improved since the historic drought and famine this summer. However four million people are still in need of basic aid like water and shelters. The situation continues to be the worlds most serious humanitarian crises and tens of thousands of people will die unless sufficient funding is provided for acute and long-term relief aid,” says regional director for the Danish Refugee Council, Peter Klansø, as part of the UN lead delegation in Stockholm.
When the crises in Somalia peeked in July 2011 the international community showed the capacity to act fast and efficient in raising necessary resources. The Danish Refugee Council were one of the organisations able to expand humanitarian efforts according to the deepening of the crisis – an upscale of the lifesaving food distribution from 16 soup kitchens in Mogadishu were among the initiatives.
The appeal aims to ensure the implementation of 350 humanitarian emergency projects by UN agencies and international and Somali humanitarian organisations.
“The appeals from the UN and international humanitarian organisations were heard when the gravity of the situation became clear this summer. We hope it will be heard again so we can maintain the necessary relief efforts – and make sure the Somali people are able to resist future droughts and depend less on humanitarian aid, says Peter Klansø.
The Danish Refugee Council and the demining unit, DDG, have been providing emergency aid and assistance in Somalia since 1998. Daily meals are handed out in Mogadishu feeding more than 100,000 internally displaced people, protection and shelter is provided along with aid packages, livelihoods are improved in collaboration with Somali communities through agricultural development projects, and extensive efforts are made to improve community safety - not least through the removal of landmines and explosive remnants of war.